


Finally

by notabadday



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 01:59:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3832822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notabadday/pseuds/notabadday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's decision time for Casey and Dawson "in a big way"; the firefighters underestimate the danger they face during one of their rescues and Casey bears the brunt of it; Dawson has some life-changing news. </p><p>This is a direct result of the many WhatsApp conversations between Charlie, Tamara and I about possible events in the Season 3 finale. I took inspiration from a few choice spoilers and worked from there. I thought I'd indulge in a far happier interpretation of them than I expect the show will give us -- there's not a whiff of dodgy strip club owners in this fic.  Also, I've inexplicably taken against Rice so this fic assumes he's a bad guy and has already hopped town, leaving Severide questioning his judgment. </p><p>(This may be my longest fic ever - whoops!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally

"Popcorn in my eye! Popcorn in my eye!" Casey yells to a chorus of chuckles, popcorn missiles continuing to fly through his kitchen. "Don't laugh!" he exclaims, with playful outrage.

 Diego and Eva continue laughing as Casey begins poking his own eye in a backward effort to soothe whatever damage has been done. After a delayed reaction, Dawson eventually comes to see what all the fuss is about, carrying a look of stern disapproval when she enters the kitchen.

 She's holding his eyelids apart to examine Casey's 'injury' when they all hear a knock at the door. Eva keenly goes to answer it while Casey and her aunt continue dealing with the popcorn injury. After a moment, Antonio calls out. "Everything okay, Gabby?"

 "We're in the kitchen! The kids were mucking around and it got a little much for some," Dawson explains as Antonio joins them, consoling Casey with a couple of patronizing pats on the chest. He looks unimpressed. Amused, Antonio teasingly raises an eyebrow as he looks at Casey.

 "I'll remember this when you need a firefighter... or a contractor, or... You know what, I have many skills." Casey shakes his head.

 "Thanks for watching them. I'll have to return the favour," Antonio tells his sister off-handedly. As soon as the words fall out, they both stare at each other wide-eyed and silent. Casey fails to react, instead occupied with washing his eye out with water.

 As Dawson relaxes, she gives Antonio a warning look and he silently gestures his apology.

 "So, what's going on with you two?" Antonio asks, with unabashed curiosity. "You back on?"

 With a sigh that suggests the question is an uneasy one, Casey replies, "We just realized that we can still be friends, we can still be in each other's lives even if we're not a couple." His former brother-in-law-to-be looks at Casey sceptically before smirking at Dawson. Casey's impaired vision prevents him from catching the nuances of Antonio's expression.

 

* * *

 

The following day at the firehouse, Dawson paces outside the chief's office, staring intently through the blinds. Herrman, Severide, Casey and Boden are in deep discussion and have been for some time. Eventually, she tires of waiting for them to finish and wanders back to the kitchen to distract herself. When she walks in, Otis calls over to her. "Molly's. We gotta do inventory."

 "Okay," Dawson shrugs noncommittally.

 "Have you kept a record of how many drinks you've had from behind the counter?" Otis asks, pen in hand, as he looks over a spreadsheet.

 Her reply is instant, without a thought. "Oh. I'm not drinking."

 Otis looks up and Brett, who was minding her own business on the other side of the table, is suddenly looking at Dawson wide-eyed too. Dawson herself takes a minute to notice her slip-up. When she does, she gives them both a warning look and disappears.

 In Boden's office, the four men are nearing the end of their conversation and Boden begins to lean back in his chair to take in everything they've discussed. Casey continues: "Severide and I have discussed it. It'd at least be until she's trained, chief, and then we can look at the situation again."

 Herrman is nodding thoughtfully.

 "Herrman?" Boden looks to his friend.

 "I'm fine with it if you are, chief."

 Casey looks alternately at his three colleagues, anxiously awaiting their approval. Having laid his cards so openly out on table, he feels confident Boden will acquiesce, but waiting in the silence feeds his worry. There's a quiet strength to Boden's leadership that is not to be messed with, and the suspenseful pause reminds Casey what he's up against if the answer is no.

 With a slow nod, Boden dismisses his firefighters as they finalize their agreement. Before Casey, Severide and Herrman can even leave the office, Dawson comes bursting in, insisting, "I have to speak with you urgently, chief."

 Casey catches Dawson's plea on the way out and looks at her with an offer to stay. She ignores it, though, and focuses her attention on Boden.

 "What is it, Dawson?"

She waits until the door is completely closed. "I need to transfer back to ambo."

 Boden's gaze is unblinking. He looks as though he's deliberating whether to throw paperwork in the air or slam his head against his desk. After an uncomfortably long silence, he eventually says, "What?"

 "I need you to put me on ambo again. Permanently, I think."

 "You're not a firefighter, Dawson?"

 "I am, chief." She digs deep. "But I'm a pregnant one."

 The chief can't help but contain a gentle laugh, warmth breaking out on his face as he shakes his head in disbelief. Dawson's shoulders drop and she lets out a breath. "Well," Boden begins with a smile, "let me be the first to congratulate you. And let me also suggest that you and Lieutenant Casey work on your communication."

 

* * *

 

Casey rushes over to Dawson the moment she comes out of Boden's office and leads her by the hand back to his own office. "What's going on?" she asks, instinctively reluctant to be dragged off for a private chat, despite their urgent need for one.

 "I have some news."

 "So do I," Dawson says with a laugh.

 "Mine's pretty big."

 "Matt, I really don't think this is a game you're going to win but go ahead."

 He looks at her confusedly before deciding to explain. "I've been talking to Boden and," he pauses dramatically, "he's agreed that Herrman will be the lieutenant on Truck 81 until the end of your training. I'm going to work under Severide on squad."

 "Do you want to be on squad?" she asks, confused.

"I want to marry you, Gabby. And it'll be good to try something new. Besides, Herrman's been waiting for a lieutenant opening for months and, after Rice, Severide needs someone he can trust on squad with him." Casey watches the news sink in. "We can get married now. We can do this properly. Nothing standing in our way."

 "Casey, I..."

 "Oh yeah, what was your news?"

 Before she can answer him, the firehouse alarm sounds. Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Squad 3, Battalion 25. Building collapse. They look at each other to share in the overwhelming sense of deja vu, before Casey kisses her quickly and says, "Duty calls. As soon as we get back, we'll talk!" She watches him jog out to the truck before joining Brett in the ambo.

  

* * *

 

When Dawson arrives on scene, the firefighters have already dispersed into the wreckage of a half-collapsed office building. Casey has radioed for assistance after surveying the number of casualties. The walking wounded head over to Brett and Dawson immediately, but one of them rushes over to Casey in crying hysteria, yelling, "There was someone in the basement. My friend! He's trapped down there! Please, save him."

 Casey immediately initiates the rescue, leaving Dawson to assure the friend that they're doing all they can.

 51's firefighters all come out one-by-one carrying victims with varying injuries. They come out and go back in systematically until it seems that everyone that can be reached is out of danger. Boden alerts Severide to Casey's rescue attempt, and he begins to strategize with squad to assist Casey.

 "I've found him," they hear over the radio. "Gonna need a backboard."

 Dawson exhales in relief. Not for the first time, nor for the last.

 "We're sending one down now," Boden confirms before giving Severide and Capp the nod.

 It's no time at all before Severide has reached Casey and they have the man secure on a backboard. Severide moves him out quickly, and Casey goes to follow behind. A block of debris falls, though, knocking Casey back just as the building's structure collapses once again, creating a blockade between Severide and Casey. Severide looks back expectantly, only to be faced with the second wave of disaster.

 "Casey!" he bellows, spit firing out of his mouth as he explodes with panic.

 Boden watches in horror as Severide is forced to move the victim away from the wreckage, leaving Casey trapped inside. "Lieutenant, can you report?"

 It's a painful wait before Casey eventually responds, "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm injured but I'm okay. But there's no way out. I'm gonna need some help getting out of this one."

 Dawson, Boden and Severide all exchange looks of concern before Dawson asks him, "Where are you injured?"

"Uh. Well, some of the debris tore through my jacket and... I'm bleeding pretty bad from my chest, my stomach... Maybe other places. I can't see too well down here."

 Dawson tries to keep it light, not wanting to alert Casey to the danger he's in. As he finishes describing his predicament, she says, "Always gotta be the hero."

 "This is the last time," he replies, with a laugh.

 Dawson smiles thinking about him, thinking about all the heroics he's pulled since they met. His kind of brave verges on martyrdom; he could never be the first one out. He has a particular compulsion when it comes to saving babies and friends. It frustrates her as much as it charms her. "I know you better than that, baby," she tells him, wryly.

 Severide sets about franticly pulling up bits of rubble with Herrman and the rest of squad and truck. Boden stands tall, his face tight, saying nothing. He watches intently, fighting the urge to run over and start pulling up rubble alongside them. But he needs to be chief. They need him to stand tall, to lead them. Dawson and Severide, in particular, repeatedly look in his direction like children searching for their stoic father, his unflappable nature providing comfort against the backdrop of dust and rubble.

 Dawson's hand clenches her radio like she's holding it for dear life, as though grasping onto the only bit of Casey within reach, his voice abruptly bursting out of it at intervals. Her other hand moves protectively over her stomach in subconscious strokes. It's a reminder that her connection to Casey transcends any radio signal, the crunch of static as they utter mutual reassurance a poor substitute for the clarity with which they know each other.

 Her thoughts turn to what she can possibly say to give him the determination he needs to get out, to come back into her arms. His words have become fewer. His sentences end in slurring, or come to no real end at all. She takes a deep breath before pressing down on the radio and moving it up to her lips, quietly but confidently telling him, "As soon as you get out of there, I'm putting a ring on that finger. You hear me? I'm locking it down."

"Oh yeah?" he replies, and she can hear his smile.

 "Yeah." Dawson inhales deeply once more. "Oh, and I had some news for you earlier. You're, uh... You're gonna be a dad, Matt."

 Tears permeate her voice as she adds his name. It's heartbreak and joy all at once. That they're going to be a family. That he might not be there to see it. That the part she'd been most looking forward to, that joyful disbelief on his face, goes unseen. That the way he replies paints the picture anyway. He asks, his voice breaking, "You're pregnant?"

 She gives a futile nod before vocalising her confirmation. "Keep your eyes open. I need you to get out of there because I sure as hell can't do this alone. Alright? You hear me?"

 He moans an answer, a supposed yes that reminds her how close he is to the edge. It's a noise that barely makes it above the growl of he radio. It has to be enough for now. She says his name two or three times and he manages a slightly more firm moan in response.

 Pulling her finger away from the radio's receiver, she calls out to Severide. "Hurry up! We're losing him."

 Severide's face goes white. The men around him are frantic, pulling up great blocks of rubble and debris at a superhuman pace, drilling in places to speed up the process. Mouch quickly grabs his radio to say, "Hang in there, lieutenant." It's a sentiment they all share in. Herrman, though, refuses to stop. He looks manic, as though one moment of pause is going to hang over his head forevermore if Casey doesn't come out of there alive.

Everyone's noticed Herrman's monomaniacal determination. They say nothing, though. No one is going to attempt to chip away at the determination to save their lieutenant. They observe with admiration and go back to their own tasks with a little more fight in them.

 Severide finally sees that a clear path to Casey is emerging and prepares himself to initiate the rescue procedure. At last. "Dawson! Keep him talking," he calls over to her, his own mission understood now. He picks up his radio, to reassure Casey, "I'm coming for you, brother."

 Dawson starts talking into her radio again as she watches Severide disappear into the narrow tunnel that the firefighters have forged. "Baby, can you still here me?"

 He groans some kind of yes.

 "Not long now. Severide's going to get you out of there. You might have to ask him to be best man after this, you know." She pauses, hoping he'll give her a reply, but goes disappointed. "I've been thinking about my vows." Another pause. "Well, first off, you've gotta promise not to get yourself trapped in collapsing buildings. But I was thinking, I would promise you... that I will love you," she begins, with a nervous laugh, "through good times and bad, forever. I'll love you whether you're back on another gurney because you just _had_ to be the hero, or you're dancing with me as we throw beers back at Molly's."

 She takes a breath as her voice catches. She thinks about him listening and the chance that he isn't. Both notions are a stab to the heart. "I promise that whatever obstacles we face, I will be by your side for every one of them. I want to be down in the rubble with you -- figuratively. Try to stay out of rubble, baby. What else, what else," she says urgently, wracking her brain for the multitude of declarations she has for him. "I promise... I'll love you, I'll love you, I'll love you..."

 Dawson trails off, spotting the yellow of the backboard as it reemerges from the ground. Casey is bound to it. She can see it's him, his arm trying to escape the side, though caught in the ties. Herrman and Cruz take him from Severide to the ambulance, with Dawson, Boden and Severide rushing after him. He's unconscious when Dawson finally reaches him. She takes his hand in hers and holds it tightly, desperately.

 "I promise..."

 

* * *

 

"'In sickness and in health' seems like the promise I should be emphasizing," Casey quips, smiling. "I will love you through whatever comes our way. I promise you that, to the best of ability, I will try to balance who I am as a firefighter with being the husband you need me to be, and the father I want to be. I promise to support you and respect you, and to share in your ambitions," he says, confidently looking into her eyes as she returns his blissful grin. "I love you and I always will."

 As Casey finishes making his vows, Dawson exhales every worry that left her doubting this moment would come. They made it. They share a glance burdened with relief as their close friends, their family, look on warmly. Severide is beaming from his position beside Casey.

 Dawson moves the hand not holding Casey's to gently caress her bump, now a petite protuberance that her simple white dress fails to conceal. Casey's smile broadens, and remains fixed until they are declared husband and wife.

 With a laugh, Dawson quietly says, "Finally."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it. Feedbacks is always greatly appreciated.


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